


Happy Accident

by Cameron_McKell



Series: Upon Further Review [54]
Category: Tron (1982), Tron (Movies), Tron - All Media Types
Genre: First Meetings, Gen, Popcorn
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-12-28
Updated: 2016-12-28
Packaged: 2018-09-12 19:13:54
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 809
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9086101
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Cameron_McKell/pseuds/Cameron_McKell
Summary: (Originally posted on Tumblr, now archived on the AO3.)When Flynn met Roy.





	

“Hey, Bradley, I wanted to ask you about-”

 

Roy froze with his hand still half inside Alan’s popcorn bowl; the stranger standing in the cubicle doorway was dressed fairly casually, like he was at the supermarket instead of an office building, and staring at him. Had they started up a Casual Friday sort of thing since that big-shot guy got canned? That would be _awesome_ , if it were true. Maybe he could ask?

 

… Except, the guy just kept _staring_ at him, like he’d seen a ghost. It was kind of weird.

 

“He had to go home and change.” Roy might as well tell him what he knew.

 

“Huh?” The guy was _still_ staring at him.

 

“Alan. He had to run home on his lunch break; one of his pens broke and spilled ink all over his clothes.”

 

The man shook himself, and finally broke the stare, only to focus on Roy’s hand in the popcorn; Roy hastily pulled it out. “Right. Alan. I was gonna ask him about the… thing.”

 

The guy seemed to be at a bit of a loss, so Roy smiled reassuringly at him, and hid his slightly-buttery hand behind his back. “He should be back in about twenty minutes, if traffic wasn’t too bad.”

 

He nodded at the news, and it occurred to Roy that whoever this guy was, he looked sort of familiar. Had he been Employee of the Month or something, recently? “Do I know you?”

 

For a moment, the guy looked absolutely _devastated_ , and Roy would have beat an embarrassed retreat to his own cubicle and pretended the whole thing hadn’t happened, if not for the fact that he couldn’t squeeze around the guy through the remaining space in the doorway, and the wall was a _little_ bit high to try jumping over. In the next moment, the heavy sadness was swept away, and the guy pulled on a somewhat unsteady smile.

 

“The name’s Flynn.”

 

The sense of familiarity grew stronger, until it hit him all of a sudden –

 

“Oh! You’re the guy in the newsletter!” he almost shouted, then abruptly lowered his tone when he realized just _how_ _many_ people were trying to work around them. “The one whose work got stolen, right?”

 

“Yeah, that’s me,” Flynn nodded, then shuffled a bit further inside, and grabbed a handful of popcorn for himself; Alan was probably going to have to pop another batch when he got back, between missing lunch and sharing, but it was _popcorn_ , and Alan always had the good stuff. With half the handful of popcorn still in his hand, and the other half in his mouth, he continued. “What about you?”

 

“What?” He held back the sudden urge to channel his mother and scold Flynn for talking with his mouth full, but still pulled a face as he replied. “I’m Roy. I’m in the next cubicle over.”

 

“Roy,” Flynn echoed, and laughed as if there was something ironically funny about his name or workspace. “Right, of course.” He tossed a popcorn kernel up into the air, but failed to catch it in his mouth; they both watched as the runaway popcorn bounced and rolled under the desk. Hopefully Alan wouldn’t find it before the cleaning crew did; sharing was one thing, but if he found out they were _wasting_ his popcorn, he’d wring someone’s neck. Considering Flynn _probably_ hadn’t asked permission first, the neck-wringing would probably land on Roy, joy of joys.

 

Just as he bent down to pick up the popcorn and save himself from misdirected retribution, Flynn spoke up again. “Hey, uh… Alan’s mentioned before that you’re good with numbers?”

 

“Yeah. I mean, everyone here is, at least a little, but still.” He hastily snatched up the lost popcorn, then, for lack of a better alternative, put it in his pocket. “Were you needing help with something, or something?”

 

“Yeah, I’ve been working on this new project, but something in the numbers just isn’t adding up, and I’m kind of stumped.”

 

For some reason, Flynn wouldn’t quite look him in the eye, but the request sounded easy enough, so… “Sure, I can take a look.” Roy gestured, then followed as Flynn preceded him out of the cubicle. “What’s the project?”

 

“It’s kind of hard to explain, but…” As the two of them walked and Flynn laid out what he’d been trying to do, he slung one arm around Roy’s shoulders as if they were old pals. It was a bit familiar, sure – they’d only just met, after all – but something, like a vague intuition, told Roy it wouldn’t be like that for long. He and this guy Flynn were going to become friends.

 

Flynn shoved the last of his handful of popcorn into his mouth so he’d have a hand free to call the elevator, and Roy laughed in his chipmunk-cheeked face.

 

Maybe even good friends.


End file.
